Define 'Fling'
by inner harmonies
Summary: Now it had to be Tony's imagination because that didn't look a smile of invitation, instead it was one of mockery. And that had to be completely wrong because Tony Stark didn't get mocked when he expressed his interest. That just wasn't how it worked. Hints of every pairing under the sun, focus on Tony/Loki and dabbles of Clint/Natasha. College AU.
1. Chapter 1

Giving a brief greeting, a brief disclaimer that I don't own any of this, and another brief 'enjoy the show'.

* * *

"And I'm just saying that you and Natasha really could've done something more interesting for the summer than to just go to Budapest."

"Well then I'm just going to say that those sunglasses look like their natural habitat was the Dollar Tree."

The first day of class was really grating enough for any college student, marking the end of their opportunities for any summertime shenanigans and instead being confronted with the very real realization that there was finally work to do. Not that the two men who were leisurely having a chat at one of the outside tables of an on-campus café looked like they really had a care in the world.

"Barton, that cuts deep, these were a gift from my grandmother."

"You never met your grandmother, Tony."

The sunglasses-that-definitely-were-not-from-Dollar-Tree were lowered as the Stark heir gave the man across from him a very, very grave look. "Well apparently I never had to have met her to receive a gift or two-mil."

Clint sighed, twirling a still-covered straw in between his fingers as he reclined in his chair, "Yes yes, Anthony Edward—oh I'm sorry. _Tony_Stark, the great and grand heir of Stark Industries who graduated MIT Summa Cum Laude at 15 and… what've you been doing now?"

He pointedly ignored Tony's slowly souring expression that essentially accused Clint of going off-script.

"Oh yes, that's right. Working on your… what is it now? Fifth? Sixth? Extra graduate degree here where we welcome you to University of Southern California with open arms and eager ass kissing," he finished off.

"And where do you, Clint Barton, get to tell me off when you're still working on getting your first degree in… a Physics major, was it?" Tony tilted his head just a fraction, knowing full well how much Clint hated people getting surprised over his surprisingly in-depth and complicated major.

But he showed his mastery as he quickly tore off the end of the straw wrapper, lifted it to his lips, and gave just enough of a puff of breath to shoot the rest of the cover straight through the air in a perfect line. Its target was the middle of Tony's forehead.

The billionaire just gave him a very unimpressed stare.

Luckily before they began a miniaturized war using plastic forks and coffee stirrers as their weapons of choice, an ever familiar clacking of heels successfully snagged their attention.

"Hey Tasha," Clint turned to face her, a small grin working its way onto his face even against his better judgment.

Tony observed for a moment, a little amused. It wasn't even that everyone knew that Clint and Natasha had a thing; it was the small things that made it apparent to anyone who _did_know that it was so obvious that it nearly caused chronic pain. He'd been attending this school for years – maybe too many now that he was actually of proper college age and matching his new friends birthday for birthday – but he hadn't seen anyone act so precariously about a relationship before.

So instead he just shook his head ever so slightly before completely removing the sunglasses and giving Natasha a bright, fake grin of his own. Perhaps a way to mock Clint, but what was _definitely_mocking Clint was the light and airy "Hey Tasha" that Tony greeted her with.

Something tugged lightly at the very corner of Natasha's mouth, a threat of a smile, before she just gave her usual greeting. "Boys. Back here again?"

"Well you had to find us somehow, right?" Tony shrugged, fiddling around with the fork that came with the cheesecake that he had absolutely decimated a little more than ten minutes ago.

They were a common sight at this café- not just the three of them but the three of them plus three more. It was that thought that made Clint ask, "So do Steve, Bruce, and Thor all have class or something?"

Natasha shifted her weight to one leg and placed a hand on her hip, a light rise and fall of her shoulder characterizing a dainty shrug. It was almost an act to give off the idea that she didn't really know. But she was Natasha, therefore she always knew. This proved to be a fact as she quickly relayed, "Last I saw Bruce, he was just picking up some more books, Steve texted me that his class just ended on my way over here, and Thor…"

A slight inclination of her head to the left made both of the sitting men follow her gaze.

Slightly off to the distance and just barely under the shade of some trees, they noticed Thor on his phone. Tony quickly noticed that it wasn't a StarkFone, trying and failing to smother some of his resentment. But that played second fiddle to the fact that for once, the big lug wasn't smiling and grinning like he normally was. Instead, he almost seemed frustrated.

"Weird," he noted and took an obnoxiously loud sip of his drink, "What's under Thor's skin? Besides enough muscle to strangle an angry bison."

Again, both of them looked to Natasha for answers.

Heaving a slight sigh and not exactly pleased to be used as an information network, Natasha gave them both an exasperated look. Sadly, she knew for a fact that she was the only one who cared to keep tabs on things enough to actually _know_. "Rumor has it—"

"Terrible song."

"I dunno, I think it's catchy."

"I might've just lost a little respect for you, Barton."

"_Rumor has it_that we will soon be welcoming another Odinson into our ranks. The admissions office was abuzz. We're slowly getting more and more millionaires in this place, so they're hoping it'll lead to some very grateful alumni," she rubbed her pointer finger and thumb together to try to get a point across.

"Mucho dinero," Tony nodded. Never mind that he was one of the people they were counting on to be one of those happy alumni. Or at least, he'd better be given how much time he'd wasted there getting all those degrees. And he knew it was a waste but he still didn't seem to care.

"Huh. A little Thor? I'm assuming they're little because they can't really get much bigger," Clint noted, his eyebrows raised at the very idea.

"Loki Odinson," Natasha offered as she sauntered her way over to the free chair, finally figuring that the ridiculous heels she was wearing were annoying enough that she could take a seat. Without a word, she reached for the caramel macchiato that she knew very well was for her. Then she took a brief glance at what else was sitting on the table. "Green tea frappuccino for Bruce? You know he won't like that."

"I actually thought the failed experiment that released a bunch of green bubbles into the room was really funny," Clint gave an injured sniff.

As they dissolved into discussing how Clint was terrible at buying things for people, Tony was still tossing a few ideas around in his head. It was still bothering him. Thor always seemed like such a family guy, it was odd to think that he wasn't happy to welcome his brother into the school. And Tony was actually more than curious about what kind of person this Loki Odinson was, and why he had only transferred in now instead of just enrolling with Thor to begin with.

He also thought 'Loki' was definitely a name he could see himself groaning into the night, if looks ran in the family and maybe this one wasn't as much of a straight-edge as Thor but that was something he thought he could keep to himself.

* * *

Tony kept it to himself.

He kept it to himself all the way through the evening, even as he greeted Thor in his usual fashion—mostly. He did slap the guy on the back reassuringly because he didn't know any way to show his concern for the jock that he now called his friend. Steve and Bruce joined them as well, then with one idea leading to another, they circled around and hotly debated what kind of pizza they would be ordering that night since Bruce insisted on healthy things and vegetables whereas Thor was adamant that he could order his own meat lovers pizza and finish it off himself.

Tony wanted to make it hard on everyone and decided to be the guy who wanted pineapple even though he didn't personally like pineapple.

Then it was story time as they all completely dominated a fairly large table at the local pizza parlor.

Apparently Steve had just gone back home during the summer break, spending some time with his mother and then doing some spare work over at Coney Island because the guy was just fond of kids. Tony shook his head a bit at his friend and his good-natured ways, then busted a gut when Steve described an encounter with an escort—without even seeming to know that she was an escort until his story was met with some laughter. The red on his cheeks was just so very much worth everything.

Bruce shrugged and relayed his little story of doing charity work in some little place in South America, he met a lot of people and managed to help even more of them. He was quite pleased for his scholarship and blah di blah all the things that managed to make everyone else in the room smile, but Tony just sighed. "Save it for the thank you letter you're indubitably sending the people who gave you the money," Tony waved a hand. That was the cue for everyone to roll their eyes because they doubted that Tony ever sent out a thank you letter in his life.

(Maybe it was a little out of place but seeing as Stark Industries was the one who gave Bruce the scholarship, Tony didn't want to hear another word of it. His dad could read the letter when it showed up on his desk.)

Clint and Natasha told stories about Budapest that Tony tuned out just to smite them both. It didn't work because as soon as Natasha said 'gunshot', he was right back to paying attention and considering the possibility of organizing a separate security guard group that would trail his friends when they were in other parts of the world.

Tony shrugged when it got to his turn. He could tell them about flying around to all parts of the world because he could and because he wanted to, enjoying himself and taking in all the pleasures of the world while he was still young—

Or he could've told them the truth that he was being a remarkably responsible businessman and the only marks against his record were the ones that happened in the unholy hours of morning but that would happen to anyone, right?

In the end he decided not to tell them much of anything, simply because Tony realized years and years ago that when the media had started telling all your stories for you, telling them again lacked a lot of substance and purpose.

Thor's turn started out stilted, they had to pull his gaze away from the window and back to the rest of them before he seemed to inflate with his usual swagger. Then it was time for another grand tale of Thor's adventures with his friends – he had seriously started calling them the Warriors Three – and how they went into the mountains and ended up having to fight a bear. Did he mention that it was also raining and thundering? Let's not forget the fact that poor Hogun was out of the action because he fell into a river and was down with a cold. So that left just three of them to tame the savage beast.

It was a usual night of laughter and it was as if they hadn't even spent two months apart from each other, what with the way that Steve held the door open for all of them on the way out, Tony paying the bill without anyone even questioning a thing and him not even minding. Natasha went off to her separate apartment off-campus, Clint went to his fraternity house, Bruce and Steve were going to their shared place that was within walking distance from campus, and Tony was just going to follow after Thor in the direction of the parking lot so he could drive to his upper-class—

"Hold on a second here—buddy, did you have something mixed in with your root beer tonight? Your fraternity's in the other direction," Tony picked up the pace of his steps to try to match the strides of the giant.

In the seconds that it took Thor to realize that he was being spoken to, Tony swore that he also could've turned around in the other direction. But the words that came out of his mouth were enough to make Tony want to make an about-face— "Ah, did I not inform you…? I recently managed to take up residence elsewhere! It took some negotiations but I came out triumphant. I believe that I am now in the building you always entertain us in."

His friend paused in his steps momentarily, which was enough for Thor to make it the rest of the way to the parking lot, before he picked up a jog to catch up and mutter, "Yeah. Of course you did. Well come on, big guy, let's make Mama Earth proud and do that carpool thing. I've got room in the Ferrari."

Some part of Tony's mind still buzzed with questions, particularly why it was that Thor moved elsewhere when it was known that he and – oh god help Tony if he actually started using this nickname frequently – the "Warriors Three", as his friends called themselves, had a jolly good time in their fraternity housing.

But then there was a flash of a pretty face in his head, one belonging to a Miss Jane Foster, which greeted Tony every day outside his residence the previous semester when he was leaving about 11 for his class at 1 and she was just coming back from her class that finished up at 10. Oh. Yeah, he guessed it wasn't too hard to imagine why Thor wanted to move to his place.

Tony kept those thoughts to himself too, instead turning up _Thunderstruck_loud enough for both him and his friend to enjoy.

* * *

"Good morning, Jane sweetheart," Tony chirped rather happily as he caught her gaze, exiting from the parking lot the next morning.

"And good morning to you, Tony" she gave him a brilliant flash of teeth, pointedly ignoring the term of endearment that latched onto her name even when she told him to kill it, "You're awfully early. Normally I catch you just leaving instead of arriving."

He just gave her a none-too-ashamed rise and fall of his shoulders before he tilted his head to get a better look at her. "I actually have stuff to do this morning. Who would've guessed, huh?"

A chime of a laugh passed through her lips as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the other arm preoccupied with holding a mass of books. "I definitely wouldn't have. But you take care, okay? Maybe keep up this string of healthy life habits."

"You too," Tony smiled as he started up his pace of walking again, "What do you say we do coffee sometime? You can tell me what you did this summer. I'm expecting observatories and mind-shattering discoveries!"

He didn't even bother to listen for her answer as he proceeded onward. Ideally speaking, he would be able to cash in on that coffee date sometime in the morning, just casually slip a word to Thor so he'd be there at the right place and right time, and then make sure that he conveniently had something else with Bruce instead.

Damn, he would start calling himself Hitch if he didn't respect Will Smith so much.

Idly, his thoughts drifted to Thor just as he placed his ear buds in, trusting his phone-slash-music-player-slash-GPS-slash-whatever-the-hell-he-wanted-it-to-be to give him a suitable anthem to walk to. He'd banged on the lug's new residence a few times even though he knew it would take a damn cavalry to wake him up, but thought it would be worth a shot. He didn't even hear the giant's snoring.

But it was still abominably early – about 9:47 which equated to the dead asleep hour for Tony – so it wasn't like Thor could possibly be awake. Maybe he just got that snoring problem fixed over the summer.

So it was just when Starkify, which was Tony's pet project when he decided that Spotify was dumb, got to a good song and he even started mumbling the verse under his breath – "can he see or is he blind?" – when there was suddenly a hand on his shoulder.

He stiffened and decided he was about to go Bruce Lee on the guy's ass (and it had to be a guy because damn those hands felt rough and ugly if hands could be ugly) when he hears the very monotone and very uninteresting voice drone, "Good morning, Stark."

It took everything he had to bite back a groan.

"Goooood morning, Mr. Coulson!" Tony tugged on the wire until his hearing was clear again and he gave a big, fake, 'I really don't want to see you this early in my day' smile to the man who was giving him a very deliberate look. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

And by pleasure he meant eye-searing pain.

"Cute, but I'm not really interested in your games today. Come on, Director Fury's requesting a word with you," the older man patted him not so kindly on the back in the direction of the administration office.

Tony did his best not to roll his eyes in response, seeing as 'Director' really wasn't the guy's title but he supposed that yes, it did come off as a bit more intimidating than 'Dean of Students'.

Still though, the only reason he didn't try to talk his way out of it was the little mumble that came from under Coulson's breath that sounded a lot like "and here I thought you were friends with Thor."

* * *

"So should we cut him down maybe?"

"It'd be faster than waiting for the adhesive to wear out, Bruce. Someone go to the gym and get a few mats to lie down on the ground."

"Come on Tasha, you're babying him. He can totally take it."

The familiar voices completely befuddled Tony as he walked into the administration office. Maybe Natasha a little less since Tony had never even seen her sleep, ever. Okay perhaps Clint could also be excused because the early bird catches the worm and almost every bird saying that Tony could come up with could be accurately applied to Clint—

But Bruce didn't come out from his man cave (and Tony ignored the fact that Bruce told him not to call it a man cave) until 11 AM at _least_, which made him only vaguely better than Tony.

It took only a bit of further exploring in for Tony to find out exactly what it was that drew the crowd out.

"Ah! Good day to you, Tony." Thor gave a bellowing greeting just as he opened his mouth for another piece of Pop-Tart to be thrown into his mouth.

That wasn't strange.

What was strange was that Clint was the one throwing the Pop-Tarts from ground level, using his mastery of physics for the greater good. This morning, the greater good was apparently feeding Thor who was completely and totally duct-taped flat to the ceiling, lost in a sea of gaudy silver.

"That… shouldn't even be remotely possible," the genius muttered just a little bit above the level of 'audible', watching in awe as he also shielded himself from the crumbs that were raining down.

"Really?" And Tony nearly forgot that Coulson was beside him until the man spoke up, "because last I heard, you were into proving the impossible things to be completely possible, Stark."

"Yeah, but that's more like sneaking in and dressing up the John Harvard statue into Master Chief from _Halo 3_the night before it's released," Tony chimed in, recalling that little stunt at MIT, "Not… duct-taping football players to ceilings."

Except there was a little note of amazement in his voice that wasn't completely smothered. Tony couldn't hide the fact that this was a pretty fantastic prank seeing as most people would be destroyed by Thor if they took him in the middle of the night. How they managed to tape him to the ceiling without even waking him up was a little beyond even Tony's imagination.

That's when it clicked.

"Wait—" he whipped around to look at Coulson incredulously, "Are you seriously telling me that you think _I_did this to Thor?"

They both ignored the "Nay! Tony would never!" that echoed from the ceiling. (Tony also ignored the fact that he _could_never, considering the difference in height and weight between him and his newfound attorney.)

"Well, we haven't exactly gotten an excellent look at the security feeds yet, but this does look a little bit like your handiwork," Coulson raised a brow, apparently not relenting as he did put a hand on Tony's shoulder to guide him to Fury's office.

Tony scoffed. "I'm offended, I've only used duct tape in my field experiments once."

'Field experiments' had become Tony's affectionate names for when he came up with (what he thought of as) clever acts that also perhaps moonlighted as mischief.

(The particular incident that involved duct tape was incredibly minor compared to a football player taped to buildings. It was instead just one (1) Clint Barton with his mouth, hands, and ankles taped and delivered to the apartment of one (1) Natasha Romanoff.

Tony called it a field experiment in gender roles and modern gift-giving.)

"Just go with him, Tony," Natasha waved a hand and pretended not to have a little smile at the memory of having an archer delivered to her doorstep. "The sooner you're out of there, the sooner you can help us get Thor down. We're running out of Pop-Tarts and he still hasn't had breakfast. This could start to look bad."

So that's why the Stark heir heaved a heavy, heavy sigh that must've weighed at least five of Thor before shrugging and following along with less of a fight. "The things I do for you guys."

Things like probably getting yelled at by an angry, half-blind man.

Coulson had the decency to look at least slightly guilty (and by slightly guilty it means to translate as not really that remorseful but at least not smug).

* * *

"Do you know why you're here, Mr. Stark?"

He'd received this particular question from this particular man in this particular room a few too many times, so that's why Tony managed to muster up a very fake pull of his lips upwards into a hideously over-eager smile as he delivered his answer.

"Because I'm sexy and I know it?"

Fury's one good eye stared at him in an unamused fashion.

So Tony took that as a victory as he grinned, "Come on. LMFAO? I'm sure you've heard it way too many times from all the parties that you have to break up. They're pretty great—well no, that's a lie. But they're pretty good if you need something to grind t—"

"Mr. Stark, I'm really not in the mood for your bullshit."

"Can we get a swear jar in here or something? I think that you're not allowed to use that language," he spoke with wide eyes, completely feigned of course, but that was half the fun. "I feel harassed—I'm sorry, who do I speak to if I feel harassed by the Dean of Students? Is there a Dean of Deans or something?"

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm all you've got," Fury looked at him with the same unentertained gaze that made Tony think he probably shouldn't pursue a life in comedy. "Now would you care to explain to me why our quarterback is out there hanging from the ceiling and being fed like a pigeon by another pigeon?"

Tony made an effort not to laugh – if Fury wouldn't laugh at his jokes, he'd try to return the favor – at the really, strangely apt description of Clint being called a pigeon. That was a new bird joke he needed to remember.

"Only if you can tell me why one of my friends is out there hanging from the ceiling and I'm in here instead of trying to help get him down," he quipped in return.

Fury tilted his chin up, "Because when something goes wrong in this school, it's basic procedure to check up with you first. Standard protocol and all that."

"Oh wow, I'm part of standard protocol? That's downright flattering."

Shaking his head and clearly losing patience to go along with his complete lack of interest, Fury leaned back against his chair, "Coulson's out to grab the second suspect as we speak. It'd just look bad if we didn't even suspect you—"

"Worse than apprehending a completely innocent student?"

"Much worse."

"You really don't like me, huh?"

Before Fury could give his rude answer to the question was just asking for, the door swung open again and earned the attention of both people in the room. There were another two people at the door.

One of them was Coulson, whose first name Tony didn't even know, and the other was someone he'd never seen before, but wished he'd seen much earlier. It was even enough for him to lower his sunglasses to get an untinted look. Dark hair, snappy dresser, sharp features, and even sharper and snappier impossibly green eyes. Tony's curiosity was piqued when he noticed this one lacked the nervous, fidgety posture that normally accompanied those who were brought to Fury's office (minus himself, of course). In fact, he almost looked bored and a few bits indignant.

Tony raised a brow and freely commented, "He's sexy and he knows it too."

It prompted a slight quirk at the very edge of the other's lips. In response, Tony gave a grin that he knew very much read 'hey gorgeous, I don't know you but I'd like to.'

"Mr. Stark, you can leave now," came Fury's voice from behind him, ever the mood killer.

"Just when things are getting good?" Tony rose from his seat, still keeping his eyes on the newcomer who just gave a slight inclination of his head to the left, denoting just a hint of interest.

Not too easy, Tony liked that.

"You're dismissed," Fury repeated with a tone of finality. Tony was just about to respond when he heard a loud thump come from beyond the hall and winced slightly.

They sure did get Thor down. And apparently none of the mats that Natasha was talking about.

"It's been fun as always, Fury. See you next week," he gave his cheeky response as he just brushed past Coulson and the new guy. He quickly mouthed 'call me' to which he got a smile.

Now it had to be Tony's imagination because that didn't look a smile of invitation, instead it was one of mockery. And that had to be completely wrong because Tony Stark didn't get mocked when he expressed his interest. That just wasn't how it worked.

But then it was Fury's, "Mr. Odinson, would you care to explain your actions?" that slipped into the air just before the door closed behind Tony that made him suddenly reconsider ever that he knew.

* * *

Tony was just barely able to work his head around the fact that he just had a sudden encounter with Loki Odinson by the time he had wandered back to where all the others were gathered.

Thor was nursing an arm while Bruce seemed to be nursing his everything and Tony could only make a guess at exactly what had managed to cushion Thor's fall. Pieces of duct tape still hung from the giant's golden tresses, and looking up there was a very clear outline of where Thor had been kept in his cheap, silvery prison.

But it was a reminder coming from Tony's phone that made him realize he was even later for the meeting with his advisor than he intended to be and so he didn't have time to chat. Really, he was still pretty caught up in his own thoughts.

So he just gave Thor a friendly slap on his non-injured shoulder as he walked by, "Welcome back to sea level, big guy. Sorry if I forego the reunion party, I need to go have someone tell me how to earn my fifth degree even though I found my way ass-backwards into the other four." And because he was still thinking very much of green eyes and not-quite-smiles, he let something else slip—

"By the way, your brother's hot."

The original smile that Thor wore gained a slight look of befuddlement as his brows knitted together ever so slightly. "What was that?"

"I said your brother's caught. Save him from Fury."

Thor seemed to hear a vague alarm going off in his ears before he gave a grave nod and started to walk off in the direction of the dean's office.

Tony breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

That was a close one.

* * *

Comments and critic are more than welcome, thanks a bunch!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A casual update with THAT much more Tony & Loki interaction. I realize that there's a lot of extra scenes here to detail and flesh out relationships between other charaters- I just hope I managed to make it that much more entertaining. I'll start up a regular updating schedule soon enough... hopefully-

Either way, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Despite the good start to the morning (and Tony _did _think that it was a good start, since he was greeted with eye candy and… okay, the Thor thing wasn't that great, but they managed to get him down and that was the victorious part), the disgruntled downward turn of his mouth and antsy fingers made it clear that in the little meeting with his advisor, Tony had encountered a bit of a roadblock.

However no roadblock would be able to withstand the force of the shining light and general epitome of all that was good in the world that came in human form: Steve Rogers.

Big blue eyes widened when Tony wandered his way into the usual café, following him as he just gave a grumble in response to being asked if he wanted his usual, and the rest of Steve's body followed along as he took the seat across from Tony without another word. "Hey Tony—"

A mildly inhuman noise passed through the billionaire's lips as he slumped his head on the table almost gelatinously.

"… Tony," Steve sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Did you not sleep again last night?"

It took a minute or two for Tony to recompose himself, but the fact that his order was always put on priority and he had a large cup of coffee placed in front of him helped restore him to human form. He rolled his shoulders before he took a long drink of the magical liquid, finding that it healed him even though it was close to burning his throat at the same time. He held a finger up for Steve even as he pulled the plastic cup away from his lips, allowing the elixir to take effect—

"Only because I was kept up dreaming of you, baby," Tony chimed in, clearly feeling a little bit more like himself before he took another less-than-healthy yet more-than-enough swig of his drink.

There was a pause as Steve shuffled in his seat a bit, not used to hearing Tony's incredibly over the top and absolutely false affections no matter how many times he heard them, but he settled on just sighing and letting his shoulders slump. This was just how the man was.

"I guess that does sound a little bit more like you," he hummed before taking a sip of his own caramel Frappuccino which he pretended was coffee, but Tony knew it was just a trick to make kids feel grown up as they got all the sugary and none of the kick.

Which made it perfect that Steve liked them so much, really.

"Well yeah, I guess I was going a little Monster from the Black Lagoon there," Tony gave a shrug. "Can't really blame me, though."

Steve raised a brow at that, urging the other man to continue.

"They're making me take a core class, Steve." And he said it in a tone that made it almost sound like 'they're making me choose between saving a puppy or a kitten from being eaten from a nest of crocodiles and either way there's going to be someone pushing me in to get eaten too'. "I haven't taken a core class here since I was _sixteen._"

Though he didn't quite see how this equated with being tossed and eaten alive, Steve did seem a little surprised and it was heard in his tone. "That is odd. Why?"

Tony gave another little groan before he drowned his sorrows in more ground coffee beans mixed with searing hot water, "Something about a degree that I'm pursuing that needs one more core class than usual. I thought it was just a typo on my schedule" and Tony had stopped doing his own schedule and let his AI run it forever ago "but then I realized there could never be a typo in my schedule. So it was time for a meeting with my advisor – who is the real Monster from the Black Lagoon by the way and don't give me that look, Steve – and it just went to hell."

A flash of sympathy moved through the blond's eyes and he just tilted his head a bit, hands just set on the table around his drink though it did move closer to Tony's by just a fraction. "Well… when's your class?"

"Tomorrow," Tony sighed and waved a free hand, "Around 1. Just a basic English seminar sort of thing."

Then whatever downtrodden emotion that was obscuring Steve's face disappeared as he perked right back up again, "Hey, that's great! I think we've got the same class then. I compared my schedule with Tasha and I think she'll be there too."

The edge of Tony's lips quirked up for just a moment at that. He couldn't make it too obvious that he was placated just by the fact that now he would have company in his misery. No, that would just make it too easy. Instead he just rolled his eyes, "Oh good. I'll have both of the history geeks in a one of those hoity toity liberal arts kinda classes. Isn't that just a _joy_."

Steve laughed then, seeing right through the façade and moved his drink the right of the way so it bumped lightly with Tony's in a mock of a toast. "I don't know what you're using that tone for. It _is_nice, since none of us have ever had any classes with you, Mr. Graduate Student."

Tony scoffed in response, "Yeah well, I don't know if I want to really be seen with the group that had to peel the school's favorite quarterback off the ceiling—"

"Wait, what?"

And Tony had thought a lot of times that he really should take some candid shots of Steve and sell them off to the papers or maybe ship them off to Hollywood because the guy was as expressive as any of those cartoons when their eyes would go wide as saucers.

Steve had that kind of look on his face right then.

Apparently he had missed the entire fiasco of having the golden-haired Adonis completely taped to the ceiling like he was one of those posters in your room that just wouldn't stay the hell up. It seemed that he had been in class when that happened, which pinged a notice in Tony's head for a question that he had to ask later. For now, it was really fun to watch Steve's face as he was suddenly hit with a fair amount of guilt for not being there, but also torn because it was ridiculously tempting to laugh now that Thor was safe.

"Wow, and they think his brother did it?"

Tony hummed despite himself, conjuring the memory of green eyes and a sleek form back to the forefront of his mind, "Yeah. But he must have some sort of crazy trick up his sleeve seeing as he wasn't as big as Thor. Taller than me, but not exactly built like you."

"And _I'm_not even sure if I could carry the guy around," Steve raised both of his eyebrows in response. But then he tilted his head, "So what kind of guy is he?"

"Well, I couldn't get much… but it would seem that he's a bit of a trickster. A little more conscious of the way he looks than our friend who runs around in the ugly as sin football jerseys – I'd really like to know why those aren't banned by the way, they're a criminal offense to everyone's eyes – and he struck me as a little brainy and more than a little bit arrogant," Tony appraised from the mental snapshot he took.

Steve made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement. "Wow. That's a lot of analysis for not much."

"And I bet he likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, probably not in yoga, but he's got more than half a brain," Tony hummed on, "and damn, I sure hope he likes making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape—"

That's where Steve made another one of those expressive faces that completed contrasted with the terse message that came out of his mouth:

"Tony. No. Stop."

That's where Tony gave a little laugh and finished off the rest of his coffee, suddenly remembering the pressing question that he had earlier. So he put on a very serious face and said, "By the way, Steve, I have a question."

Surprised at the sudden shift in mood but always eager to help a friend, he leaned forward, "Yeah, Tony?"

Tony matched him on moving in, met those eager blue eyes in a direct gaze, and he wondered—

"So was it nudes in your art class that were you keeping you from helping out Thor today? Answer me seriously. Because I ask you every week if it's nudes week and you just blush at me. This is a very pressing matter and if I don't get an invite to drop by the classroom when you're tackling human anatomy, I will be gravely offended."

It made a bit of a scene in the café when Steve rose in his seat, yelling 'Tony, _no!_' and the other just threw his head back his laughter.

One day, he'd find out when nudes week was.

* * *

It took about ten minutes for Steve to calm down and then another ten seconds after for him to finally look Tony in the eye and cave in to his apologies when he started giving him those big, brown eyes that said he'd give you the whole damn world if he could.

It took about twenty minutes for them to walk over to the book store, Tony shaking his head at the fact that Steve even bothered to get his books at all, Steve shaking his head at the fact that Tony seemed so irresponsible. It was only known to one of them that Tony actually harbored the habit buying his books weeks in advance and then disappearing one week to lock himself up and read every book he had cover to cover. Tony wasn't about to change that.

It took a grand total of sixteen seconds after stepping into the bookstore for Tony to notice a certain raven-haired figure right at the counter, taking a curious glance at Steve and then deciding that he'd much rather increase his chances of getting to know a certain Odinson than look around for some random history book.

Loki had just been pulling his sleek, black leather wallet from his back pocket when he noticed that by the time he looked back up, the young lady with a slightly rounded face and soft amber hair was replaced by—

"Tony Stark," the arrogant individual spoke as he slid a card through the register and expertly took care of the order, signing the receipt that came out without even looking down upon it. No, he was too busy locking eyes with the momentarily bewildered customer.

It took a moment for the name and face to click before Loki allowed his lips to turn up just at the corner, amusement dancing in his eyes as he answered simply in return, "Loki Odinson."

There was just a single beat before Loki put out a hand to claim his books, fingers just grazing the top of it as he kept the majority of his attention on the man in front of him. It was just a moment's touch when his hand encountered Tony's, their fingers overlapping just a fraction but neither pulled away.

Game on.

"Well it's a pleasure to finally make your proper acquaintance," Tony offered, not even sure if Loki really remembered him from that morning, even though he had perhaps gone a little out of his way to make sure his presence was known.

"I'm sure the honor is all mine," Loki spoke in a tone that denoted the fact that he wasn't really all that humbled—but Tony was just used to picking out little affectations like that. Instead, the taller man pressed forward as his hand slinked further, trying to cover more of the surface area of the book, "Tell me, do you even work here, Stark?"

Rather pleased and unable to deny that it was pretty hot how long this guy's fingers were, Tony's words slipped out in what was closer to a purr, "My answer depends entirely if you come here often."

Loki's grin widened and Tony thought he'd give an awful lot just to know what was going on in the man's head—

When a foreign voice that absolutely did not belong in their flirtations spoke up. "Mr Stark, we know that you have quite a bit of sway around here, but _really._Everyone's in a rush to get their books so if you don't mind, kindly leave if you're not buying anything."

Well that moment was definitely just taken out in the back and shot repeatedly.

Huffing a bit and turning to face the worker who addressed him, Tony just offered his usual amiable shrug. "Can we just forget all about this?"

"Absolutely," Loki quipped from behind him, now taking the entire stack of books with him and exiting the store without even looking back.

Tony gaped after him gracelessly until he was ushered out from behind the counter by the rest of the staff and he straightened his clothes even though they were perfectly fine—maybe they were a bit more mussed up in the scenario happening in his head, that ended not with Loki walking out that door but instead coming in through his apartment which only preluded those fingers being put to good use and that high and mighty attitude coming down a few notches just as the other would be pulled down to Tony's level for their lips to meet.

Not that any of that mattered when suddenly there was Clint's voice whispering in his ear.

"Rejecteeeeeed."

* * *

Really, he supposes that he shouldn't have been surprised that everyone had found their way over to the book shop at that point. It would have at least explained why Steve looked _actually_ busy with something when he was ignoring Tony on the way over.

Looking over the group – Steve and Natasha talking about some book they'd need for some history class (and Tony seriously thought Steve should just make American History his second major already instead of trying to shove it off as a minor) with Clint holding Natasha's books as well as looking over something with Bruce – Tony had to admit that it was amazing to him that they could even go to the bathroom without using the buddy system.

And as if on cue, Bruce seemed to think of just that and there was Steve volunteering to go along like the Boy Scout he was. Oh boy.

With a slight roll of his eyes, Tony made a show of hefting himself up to sit on one of the tables that were around the store. Sure, they often complained about people sitting on the tables and there were chairs around, but he thought that they really should be grateful for it. Tony has a glorious ass and that ass was now bestowing itself upon the table.

Then there was a light thump as someone sat next to him. The slight creak of the table made him suddenly realize that was probably why they told them not to sit on the furniture that wasn't built to sustain their weight.

It made it all the more confusing and astounding to think about how much duct-tape it would have taken to hold Thor up when a table gave complaint about the jock settling down upon it.

Hence why Tony couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he reached over and gave a, "Hold still, Gentle Giant" as he worked on removing some more tape that had just barely been clinging to the end of Thor's locks.

"You have my thanks, Stark," Thor sighed. "For both your assistance now as well as your warning that the good Director had called in my brother. I fear for what may have transpired should I not have been there."

Tony always thought Thor's speech patterns were really weird. Like if the Queen's English dictated that you put a 'u' in places it didn't belong (because Tony thought a lot that he was modern America incarnate and Steve could be the Good Old Days version), then Thor spoke in the King's English that mixed Shakespeare with slang. In the end he came up with a metaphor and a mental image of Thor on a street corner asking if 'thou might desire a good time'.

Pushing the idea of Thor in pumps and a boa aside, Tony just settled for playing the curious friend, turning to face his friend and lowering his sunglasses, "So your brother _was_ the one who hung you up like a golden, glorious piñata?"

Though he made a slightly distasteful face, Thor gave a grave nod. "Yes, it would seem that he didn't take kindly to my attentions…"

"What did you do?"

"Well," Thor gave a slight huff and steeled his shoulders, "I was merely concerned that he would not find any comrades what with him transferring in."

Tony didn't mention that it'd be hard _not_ to make a few friends, looking like Loki did.

"And so," Thor continued on, this time a grin finding a way onto his face, "I took it upon myself to set up a proper living arrangement! Though I was hard-pressed in being able to move myself into the room next to his as I desired, we are now living on the same floor."

It took a moment for everything to click in Tony's head. So wait, if Thor and Loki were living on the same floor and Thor was now in Tony's building… that meant that there was a witty, hot, and probably available prankster now within Tony's immediate living space. There was absolutely no way that wasn't a score.

Still, Tony had to raise a brow, "And here I thought you were just excited to see Jane every day."

As if Thor wasn't perky enough, he lit up something like the sun. No really, Tony could have sworn there was a halo of light radiating off the top of the blonde's head, "Jane resides in the same building?"

A slight chuckle worked its way through Tony's throat as he sadly shook his head, "Not quite. She leaves really nearby though. Our schedules normally have it so that as I walk out, she's just coming back from class."

It was really difficult not to compare Thor to a puppy as he gave a huge grin at that, "I see! I had not realized. That makes my efforts all the more worth it then—"

"You've fallen hard, haven't you, big guy?"

That was enough to make the grin recede as a look that implied Thor just swallowed a fly settle in. "A-Ah, well…"

"Don't worry, the secret's safe with me," Tony laughed and shook his head. Oh, he'd been there for years and years already, yet his group of friends for the term continued to surprise him with how they handled their affections. It was almost enough to make him feel bad for his next comment. "But hey, if your brother needs someone to hang out with, you always could've told _me_."

There was something about the blond-haired and blue-eyed members of the group that made them particularly cartoony, thus leading to Thor's eyes widening in response. "Would you truly be so willing?"

"To spend time with your brother?" And it took actual effort to keep any shallow, appraising, but incredibly positive adjectives from sneaking in. "Well, why not? I mean, I just passed by him and I think we got along swimmingly."

If swimmingly meant _charged with sexual tension_.

Still though, the sudden gleam of pearly whites made it clear that Thor was none the wiser of Tony's less-than-vanilla intents, "Then I would be most glad if you would help him get settled, my friend. You are, after all, a veteran amongst us when it comes to handling the school."

Tony was just about to flash a winning smile when Clint's voice piped in, "Yeah, since he's been squandering his time around here for about a quarter of his life."

"And you're already tied to the wife's apron strings, Barton, but no one here is judging," the brunette gave his friend a pointed look before glancing back at Thor with a shake of his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm all for being part of the welcoming crew. Makes me sad we didn't throw a party or anything. I love streamers."

Thor just gave a hearty laugh before his attention was stolen away by Steve, talking about something or another about football stuff. Oh the athletes among them—

"So when are you going to tell Thor that you just want to get in his brother's pants?" slid in Natasha as she slinked up to them, silent as always and giving Tony a miniature heart attack. At least she kept it in hushed tones that wouldn't draw the big lug's attention.

Tony just gave an injured frown but didn't even try to pretend that his intentions were anything else. "Well it's not a _just_ sort of thing. I mean, it sounds like it'll be pretty fun and hopefully a bit more of a challenge than anything I've had lately. Besides, did you see his eyes?"

A slim brow rose at that. "You were actually looking at his eyes?"

There was a pause before Tony amended—

"Well I didn't get a good look at his ass until he was walking out the door."

* * *

It was approaching surprising levels of late the next day when Tony yawned and entered the building in which he was supposed to be taking this dreaded _core class_. The idea of it made him shiver. He was earning his credentials for the umpteenth time after all, this was hardly necessary. What kind of peons would he be stuck with? It made him shudder if, for some reason, he would be stuck with some freshmen. It was upsetting, really, because freshmen would swoon so easily over the Stark name that it wasn't even entertaining to play with them at that point.

Steeling himself against what could probably be the absolute worst, Tony inhaled deeply before opening the door to the class and stepping inside. Already he was formulating escape plans in his head if there were too many freshmen in the class. The first line of defense would be Steve distracting them and the second would be unleashing Natasha on them if he could strike up a deal with her to protect his pure maiden innocence—

Instead he was greeted by an excited bellow of "Even Tony Stark has come to join us!"

Blinking and actually removing his shades, Tony marveled that no, he was not imagining the hunk of meat and mullet of gold that was waving at him from the middle row of the lecture hall. Wow.

After that he managed to quickly locate the familiar heads of messy blonde, the brown curls of pure genius, the perfect hair of America, and the shock of red. For one reason or another, the entire gang was there. So he was wandering up to them when out of the corner of his eye, there was a flash of dark hair.

And his attention span didn't stand a chance.

Ignoring the fact that Natasha was shaking her head in an amused fashion and Thor was momentarily perplexed, Tony allowed himself to slide into the seat next to Loki with a slight grin, "Good morning, sunshine."

Green eyes finished scanning the page of the book laid out before him before he finally spared a glance up at Tony. In one movement, he slid the book shut as well as off the desk, obscuring it from Tony's view. Then without even meeting the billionaire's eyes again, the greeting of "Rain, rain, go away" slid right off his tongue.

And he was quick-witted too. Oh, be still Tony's possibly non-existent heart.

"That might hurt you know," he tilted his head to treat to get a good read on Loki's expression.

But when the other did turn to face him, it was a mere mask of feigned curiosity. "But I'm sure the chances of it _actually_ hurting are exponentially low."

"Only because I'm assuming your actual claws have yet to come out," Tony pointed out as he tried to decipher exactly what kind of conversation he was having. There were underlying tones everywhere – or so he was convinced – but he was also getting a little distracted by the mental image of those nails scraping his back.

"An apt assumption," Loki hummed as he cocked his head to the side just a fraction, "if only because I can promise that you won't miss it when they do."

"Well now I'm tempted—"

The flash of interest in green eyes was enough to give Tony pause. And perhaps predictably, not that the effect was lessened at all, the words fell from Loki's lips. Practically an invitation and Tony was mostly sure he wasn't imagining it.

"Tempted in which way?"

It made Tony's throat dry for all of a second before he had to lean back – he'd somehow found himself drawn further and further in – and then all he could do was raise a single finger and comment. "Oh. You're good."

Loki's lips curled and his eyes darkened in a way that said 'yes, I know' even though he didn't form another single word. Instead Tony was trying to come up with another retort when someone was rudely clearing their throat.

What was up with people and getting right in the middle of their flirtations?

But Tony couldn't help but get swept up in distraction as he tended to once he turned to face the incredibly rude person who dared to interrupt him when he was busy interrupting class. It made him raise both eyebrows. "No really, what's your actual job?"

Coulson just gave him a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "That's classified information."

"Seriously?" Tony sighed heavily and ignored the light laughter coming from next to him, his new _friend_ apparently finding his issues entertaining. Nonetheless, he just waved a hand, "Since when were you capable of teaching English?"

"Since you were in diapers, Stark," the man whom Tony heavily suspected of being a secret agent gave a nod. "Now can we move on or do you need to use the potty?"

"I'm in my big boy pants, I think I've got it, Coulson."

"Really? Because I'm sure the rest of the class is perfectly fine with waiting on you."

"Nay, that is not so, Sir Son of Coul! I apologize on behalf of Anthony but I may not be late for practice any longer else I shall be forced to undergo excruciating training!"

"Has he always talked like that?" Tony leaned over to mutter to Loki, who was jostled mid-eye roll.

"That's great, Odinson," Coulson spoke again and earned the attention of even Tony, "But I don't think he seems to be really paying attention. So I guess I have to step in now even though I didn't really feel like it. So come on everyone, up and move to the back. We've got seating arrangements."

There really aren't any words available for the look of absolute disgust that hit Tony's face like a ton of bricks, "_Seating arrangements?_"

"We have a parrot in the house?" Coulson's poker face wasn't even the slightest bit twitchy. "Stark want a cracker? Yes, seating arrangements and I can spell that for you too if you need it. But I think I speak for the class when I can say that I'd rather not have to deal with your overactive hormones leading to tongue baths in the middle of the classroom." A smile. "Thanks for understanding."

* * *

It was decided that he really could've had worse luck so Tony decided not to argue with it. His seat was right next to Steve and with Tony's metaphor of them representing different eras of America, he was convinced that their little section therefore made The Greatest Country on Earth. Much to his pleasure, Loki was in the same row and on the completely opposite side and with the way that the rows curved, it made it extremely easy to make eye contact with him. Thor was even seated a few rows ahead, making it completely impossible to get caught by the big overprotective brother that could probably smash Tony's face by sneezing.

The only issue that he had with everything is that Clint, who apparently was one of Coulson's favorite students from a different class – no seriously what was this guy qualified to teach? – got the optimal seat in the back for throwing things. And with his mastery of physics and crazy eyesight, Tony was pelted by scraps of paper every few minutes until Steve glared at Clint to get him to stop.

Still.

He was thinking that if he could lock eyes with the pair of gorgeous green ones across the way a few times each class period that his luck could've been _way_ worse.

* * *

A/N: And that's all, folks! Your reviews and support still make me jump for joy. Hopefully next chapter, we'll be able to sink our teeth into some real material.


End file.
